Daily Apple News: Foldable 'iPhone X Fold', smart covers for new iPads, iOS 12.2 Beta 6, and more

We’re back again with your daily digest of Apple news. Sit back and relax as you embark on a trip through the latest news from the Apple universe!

Apple has released iOS 12.2 public beta 6. Like all of its betas, the update will be available over-the-air. In traditional fashion, iOS beta updates for iPhones and iPads are always followed by beta releases of watchOS 5.2, tvOS 12.2, and macOS 10.

So, it won’t be long till we see its other Apple devices receive the beta 6 software update. Unfortunately, beta 6 brings with it very minor changes with almost no changes to the interface.

Apart from this, features also remain exactly the same as the fifth beta of iOS 12.2. It is true that previous beta versions of iOS 12.2 have been packed with new features, however, all hope isn’t lost as there’s probably a beta 7 of the OS around the corner.

Moving on, yesterday was pretty monumental for Apple fans as the company launched two new devices. Both the iPad 5 Mini and the 10.5-inch iPad Air are equipped with the same upgraded A12 Bionic chip. While Apple claims that its gains are pretty significant over its predecessor, how does it actually perform?

Fortunately, a Geekbench score has made its way online, revealing the upgraded A12 Bionic chip in all its glory.  Sadly, the Geekbench entry bears the name of “iPad 11,2”. At this point, it’s unclear on whether this device is the iPad 5 Mini or the iPad Air.

However, it’s clear that both are using the same chip and the same amount of RAM, so this is a good ballpark figure of what both devices are capable of. The bench reveals that the chip is running at a clock frequency of 2.49GHz and is paired with 3GB of RAM.

The new A12 Bionic chipset achieves a single-threaded score of 4806 points and a multi-threaded score of 11607 points. This performance is quite incredible and will definitely invite a large number of customers.

Speaking of the new iPads, Apple has even updated its accessories list to include the Smart Cover and iPad Pro Smart Folio. The Smart Cover for both the iPad 5 Mini as well as the iPad Air is available for sale in four colors, including white, pink sand, papaya and charcoal gray.

If leather is more of your thing then Apple has something for you as well. The Leather Smart Cover for the iPad Air is being sold in four colors including midnight blue, saddle brown, black, and red. The company is certainly offering its customers a wide range of colorful Smart Covers.

Coming to Apple’s new developments with its focus on services. The company is all ready to unwrap its new TV service on Monday, before its March 25 event. However, unfortunately for Apple, it will be doing it without any Netflix shows.

Courtesy of Recode, we know that the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, has decided that its content should be restricted only to its streaming services and not shared on other platforms. While this may come as a shock, it’s actually quite expected as Netflix has never opened its arms to Apple TV features.

Netflix has acknowledged that Apple is a “great company” but has still decided to keep its content exclusive to its streaming service. In a way, this will increase competition and may even keep subscription cost at a nominal price.

In other news, an IDC report claims that the market share for wearables is only going to increase in the coming years. It also reveals that Apple Watches will undoubtedly lead the way and spearhead this rapid growth in 2019.

The image has been sourced from 9to5Mac, the same website which posted the full release of the IDC report.

According to IDC, watches happen to be the largest category for wearables which include a wide range of devices like wireless headphones with smart assistants, watches, wrist bands. Did you know that watches accounted for 44.2% of the entire market for wearables in 2018?

IDC predicts that smartwatch shipments are going to skyrocket to 90.6 million in 2019.

Apple’s has definitely shown a keen interest in foldable smartphones. In fact, not too long ago, the company even purchased a foldable display from Samsung. In this department, Apple has filed numerous patents as well.

A graphic designer, Antiono De Rosa, has provided a concept iPhone X Fold smartphone and has detailed pretty much every essential which goes into making it a perfect foldable device. The concept phone and its images were spotted by bechnace.net.

The graphic designer has even re-imagined how iOS would adapt to a foldable screen. The results are pretty impressive. When the display unfolds, the Home screen adds a few widgets along the right of the display.

While this is only a mockup of what it could be and how things could function, it pretty much covers all aspects. The concept iPhone X Fold imagines a 6.6-inch display when folded and a larger 8.3-inch display when unfolded. The amazing thing about it is that both displays are Super Retina with 514 pixels-per-inch.

If this idea does somehow concretize into a reality, Apple could have a product which might be heavily sought after. Have a look at the images of the incredible concept iPhone X Fold. Let the images and video speak for themselves!

Thanks for tuning in to today’s daily dose of Apple news. Be sure to stop by again tomorrow to get the latest news from the Apple world!

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